Marxism-Leninism-Maoism

59
" On Ms rxism-Len inism-Mooism
& "On Gonzolo Thought"
"
Documenls from PCP
irst Congress
The Communist Porty
of
Peru
(PCP), known in the doily press os
Sendero Luminoso or Shining Poth,
recently held its first Por! Congress. The PCP is o porticipoting
porty in the Revolutionory lnternotionolist Movement. The bosic
documents given below in their
entirety ond o Pofty progromme
ond stotutes olso odopted by thot
Congress were releosed by the
PCP Cenkol Committee in eorly
1988. ln oddition, the Congress
olso took up different ospects of the
Poriy's generol politicol line.
AWTW
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I.
On Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
The ideology of the international
proletariat arose in the crucible of
the class struggle as Marxism, be-
As an introduction, and to better
understand Maoism and the need to
fight for it, let us recall Lenin. He
taught us that as the revolution shift-
nally, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
ed to the East it would confront
specific conditions which, without
denying principles and laws, were
In this way the all-powerful scientif-
nonetheless new situations, and that
coming Marxism- Leninism and, fi-
ic ideology of the proletariat, allpowerful because it is true, has undergone three stages: l) Marxism, 2)
Leninism, 3) Maoism. These are
three stages, periods or milestones in
the dialectical process of development of a single unity that in 140
years, beginning with the Com-
munist Manifesfo, through the most
heroic epic of class struggle, through
fierce and fruitful two-line struggles
within the communist parties them-
Marxism could not fail to recognise
this fact on pain of leading the revolution to defeat. Despite the uproar
raised especially by pedantic and
bookish intellectuals full of liberalism and false Marxism in opposition
to what was newly arising, the only
appropriate and correct thing to do
was
to apply Marxism to the con-
crete conditions and resolve the new
come
situations and problems that every
revolution necessarily confronts and
resolves; this in the face of consternation and hypocritical "defense of
the ideology, the class, and people"
put forward by revisionists, opportunists and renegades, and the enraged and blind attacks by the stultified academicians and hacks of the
old order, debased by rotten bourgeois ideology and ready to defend
the old society on which they were
parasites. Furthermore, Lenin expressly stated that the revolution in
the East would give rise to new and
stage; thus, while some simply deny
it as such, others only go so far as to
great surprises that would further
shock the worshippers of known
paths who are incapable of seeing
selves, through the tremendous
work ofgiants ofthought and action
that only the class could
have
brought forth, with three unfading
luminaries standing above the rest
Marx, Lenin and Mao Tsetung
-and through great leaps, especially
-
three, has armed us with MarxismLeninism-Maoism, principally Maoism today.
However, while the universal va-
lidity of Marxism-Leninism has
to be recognised, Maoism is
not broadly recognised as the third
accept it as "Mao Tsetung
Thought." Essentially, in both
cases, while they clearly have differences between them, they both deny
the overall development of Marxism
by Chairman Mao Tsetung. Not to
recognise Maoism's character as an
"ism" is to deny that it is universally applicable and, consequently, its
character as the third, newest and
highest stage of the ideology of the
international proletariat: MarxismLeninism-Maoism, principally Maoism, which we uphold, defend and
applv.
the new; and, as we all know, he entrusted comrades from the East with
resolving problems that Marxism
had not yet been able to resolve.
Further, we should keep in mind
that when Comrade Stalin rightfully and correctly stated that we had
entered the stage of Leninism in the
development of Marxism, there was
also opposition, and those who opposed it also did so in the name of
defending Marxism. Let us keep in
mind that some people also said that
Leninism was only applicable to the
backward countries, but through
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struggle, practice confirmed it as a
the cities from the countryside; the
In Marxist philosophy he deve-
great development of Marxism, and
founding of the People's Republic
of China in 1949; and the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution of
loped the essence of dialectics, the
law of contradiction, establishing it
as the only fundamental law; and in
addition to his profoundly dialectical understanding of the theory of
knowledge, whose essence is the two
leaps that make up this law (from
practice to knowledge and back to
practice, the leap from knowledge
back to practice being principal), we
must emphasise his masterful appli
cation of the law of contradiction to
proletarian ideology shined
throughout the world as MarxismLeninism.
1966-1976; in all of these Chairman
Today, Maoism faces a similar
situation, and just as the new and
Marxism have always made their
way through struggle, so too Maoism will prevail and become recog-
Mao was the leading figure, and,
above all, the highest and acknowledged leader of the Chinese
nised.
As for the context in which Chair-
man Mao worked and in which
Maoism was forged, on an interna-
tional level the basis was imperialism, world wars, the worldwide
proletarian movement, the national
liberation movement, the struggle
between Marxism and revisionism
and the restoration of capitalism in
the USSR. Three milestones stand
out in this century: first the l9l7 October reyolution, the dawn of the
world proletarian revolution; second, the victory of the Chinese
revolution in 1949, changing the
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Founder of the Communist Party
and the workers and peasants Red
Army, he put forward the path of
encircling the cities from the coun-
of the revolution
ed the People's Republic. He was the
the
proletariat in order to continue on
motive force of the Great Leap Forward and the driving force behind
the building of socialism, leader of
the struggle against Khrushchev's
of
the road to communism. Suffice it to
say that Chairman Mao led two of
these glorious historic events.
Maoism took concrete shape in
China, the centre of the world revo-
amidst the most complex
= lution,
o
convergence of contradictions, in-
ti
when the empire collapsed; he enlisted in the army and later became a
great organiser of peasants and students in Hunan, his native province.
correlation of forces in favour of socialism; third, the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution initiated in 1966
under the dictatorship
z
Regarding Chairman Mao's biography, we can say that he was born
on 26 December 1893, opening his
eyes to a world convulsed in the
flames of war. He was the son of
peasants and was seven when the
"Boxer Rebellion" broke out. He
was 18 and studying to be a teacher
tryside, developed people's war and
with that the military theory of the
proletariat. He formulated the theory of New Democracy and found-
as a continuation
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Revolution.
tense and bloody class struggle
marked by the imperialist powers'
attempt to carve up China amongst
themselves, the fall of the Manchu
empire (191 1), the anti-imperialist
movement
of
1919, the upheaval
of
the vast peasantry, the 22 years of
armed struggle for the democratic
revolution, the tremendous struggle
to build and develop socialism and
the ten years of revolutionary fervour to advance the Cultural Revo-
lution in the midst of the greatest
two-line struggle in the CPC, principally against revisionism, with the
world situation already described in
the background. Four of
modern revisionism and his lackeys,
and leader and guide of the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
These milestones mark a life totally
and completely dedicated to revolution. In this century the proletariat
has won three great victories; two
were led by Chairman Mao, and if
one is glorious enough, then two is
all the more so.
On the content of Maoism
- obviously, its essence
we should un-
- basic quesderline the following
philosophy, Marxist political economy and scientific socialism. The
development of all of these gives rise
to a
great qualitative leap for
Marxism as a whole, as a unity, to
a higher level, which means a new
stage. Consequently, it is essential to
point out that Chairman Mao has
Harvest Uprising which was the beginning of the path of surrounding
consciousness, can transform the
base and with political power develop the productive forces. He developed the Leninist idea that politics is the concentrated expression of
economics, and proclaimed that politics must be in command (applica-
ble to all fields) and that political
work is the lifeblood of economic
work; all this led to a genuine
management
of political economy
and not just a series of economic
policies.
One question that is overlooked,
despite its importance especially for
those who face new democratic
revolutions, is the Maoist theory of
bureaucrat capitalism, that is, the
capitalism that imperialism develops
in the oppressed countries on the basis of different levels of feudalism or
other previous systems. This is a cru-
cial problem especially for Asia,
Africa and Latin America, since
l. Theory. Marxism is made up of from its understanding flows the
three component parts: Marxist correct leadership for the revolution,
these
in l92l; the 1927 Autumn
philosophy to the masses, fulfilling
the task laid out by Marx.
ln Marxist politicol economy
Chairman Mao applied dialectics to
analyse the relationship between the
base and superstructure and, in carrying out the struggle of MarxismLeninism against the revisionist theory of the "productive forces," he
concluded that the superstructure,
tions:
historic events are ofparticularly extraordinary importance: the founding of the Communist Party of Chi-
na
politics; moreover, he took
produced, in theory and in practice,
precisely such a great qualitative
leap. In order to better explain we
will examine this point by point.
particularly because the economic
basis for advancing the revolution to
the second, socialist stage depends
on confiscating bureaucrat capital.
But the main thing is that Chairman Mao Tsetung has developed the
political economy of socialism. His
criticism of socialist construction in
the USSR is extremely important. So
too are his theses on how to build socialism in China: taking agriculture
as the foundation and industry as
6l
the leading factor, industrialisation
guided by the relationship between
heavy and light industry and agricul-
cialism, and that it was not yet settled which will win out; it would be
resolved over a long period of time,
a process ofrestoration and counter-
ture, centring economic construction on heavy industry and simul- restoration until the proletariat
taneously giving full attention to would finally achieve the definitive
light industry as well as agriculture. consolidation of its political power,
We should highlight the Great Leap the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Forward and the conditions for its Finally and most importantly he forimplementation: one, a correct line mulated the great historic solution
setting an appropriate and correct for continuing the revolution under
course; two, a range of small, medi- the dictatorship of the proletariat,
um and large organisational forms the Great Proletarian Cultural
in terms of quantitative size; three, Revolution.
a tremendous push, a colossal effort
These basic questions, simply outon the part of the masses to set it in lined but well known and undeniamotion and finally to win, a leap ble, show Chairman Mao's developforward whose results are more ap- ment of the component parts of
preciated by looking at the process Marxism and the obvious developit sets in motion and its historical ment of Marxism-Leninism to a
perspectives than by the immediate
results, and at its links to agricultur-
al cooperatives and people's communes. Finally, we must keep in
mind his teachings on objectivity
and subjectivity in understanding
and managing the laws of socialism
(whose full flowering has not been
seen in the short decades of social-
new, third and higher
stage:
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, principally Maoism.
ic, political and ideological plane;
Continuing with this synthetic approach, Iet us look at other specific
points which, though they flow from
those previously mentioned, should
be taken up, even if only enumeratively, so as to call attention to them.
2. New Democracy. First of all,
the development of the Marxist theory of the state, in relation to the
three types of dictatorships: l) of the
bourgeoisie, in the old type of bourgeois democracies like the U.S., a
category to which can be added the
oppressed nations such as those in
Latin America; 2) the dictatorship of
the proletariat as in the USSR and
China before the revisionists seized
power; and 3) New Democracy as
the joint dictatorship based on the
worker-peasant alliance led by the
proletariat under the leadership of
revolutionary violence as a universal
law without exception; revolution as
the violent replacement of one class
by another, putting forth his theory
the Communist Party, which was
forged in China during the
democratic revolution and in Peru
today takes the form of people's
ism, which likewise has prevented a
better understanding of these laws
and their specificity), and especially the relationship between revolution and economic development,
concentrated in "grasp revolution,
promote production . ' ' Nevertheless ,
despite its crucial importance, not
much has been said about this de-
velopment
of
Marxist political
economy.
In Scientific socialism Chairman
Mao developed the theory of classes, analysing them on the econom-
that "political power grows out of committees, base areas and the New
the barrel of a gun," and he solved Democratic People's Republic in the
the problem of the seizure of power process of formation. Within this
in the oppressed nations by indicat- development of the theory of the
ing the road of encircling the cities state it is essential to stress the key
from the countryside and establish- difference between the state system,
ing its general laws. He brilliantly the dictatorship of a class or classes
defined and developed the theory of that hold political power, which is
the class struggle under socialism: principal, and the system of governthat under socialism antagonistic ment, the organisation of the exerstruggle persists between the bour- cise of that political power.
geoisie and the proletariat, between
Further, New Democracy
- one
the capitalist road and the socialist of Chairman Mao's most outstandroad and between capitalism and so- ing developments
masterfully
-
gives concrete form to the bourgeois
revolution of a new type that can
only be led by the proletariat, in
sum, the democratic revolution in
the context of the new era of the
world proletarian revolution in
which we find ourselves. New
democratic revolution means a new
economy, new politics and new culture, obviously it means overthrowing the old order and building a new
one with guns in hand, which is the
only way to transform the world.
Finally,
it is important to em-
phasise that while New Democracy,
being a democratic revolution, ful-
fills democratic tasks, it also
vances in relation
ad-
to some socialist
tasks. This provides an overall solution to the problem of two stages
democratic and socialist
that cor-
-
respond
- ours. It
to countries like
guarantees that once the democratic stage is completed, the revolution
will continue advancing uninterruptedly to the socialist stage without the
slightest pause.
3. The three weapons. The
of building the three
problem
weapons of the revolution demands
that the Party understand the relationship between the Party, the
army and the united front; a task of
leadership is to correctly and appropriately understand and handle
the interrelated building of all three
in the midst of war or the defense of
the new state based on the power of
the armed masses. This building is
guided by the principle that the
proper and correct ideological line is
decisive, and it is on this ideological-
political basis that organisational
building develops simultaneously, in
the course of the struggle between
the proletarian line and the bourgeois line and in the storm of the
class struggle, principally war, which
presently or potentially is the main
form of class struggle.
Concerning the Party, Chairman
Mao takes as his starting point the
need for a Communist Party, a
party of a new type, a party of the
proletariat, today we would say a
Marxist-Leninist- Maoist party; a
party whose objective is to seize and
hold onto state power, which inseparably links the party to people's
war, whether it be to initiate it, develop it or wage it to defend itself;
a party based on the masses, either
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as a consequence
which is a war
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of the people's war
of the masses
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or
the united front, which being a front
made up of classes, is based on the
majority of the masses. The party
develops and changes according to
the stages ofthe revolution and their
periods; the motive force of its development is the concentrated con-
tradiction within it in the form of
two-line struggle between the
proletarian line and the bourgeois
line or non-proletarian line in general, which is in essence and principal-
ly a struggle against revisionism.
This leads to the crucial importance
of ideology in the life of the party
and of the unfolding of rectification
campaigns to adjust the functioning
of the whole system of the party's
organisations and membership to
the appropriate and correct ideological and political lines, so that the
proletarian line may predominate
and keep a steel grip on the leadership of the party. The party's purpose is the establishment of the political power of the proletariat, even
under New Democracy where it is
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the leading class, and principally the
establishment, strengthening and
development of the dictatorship of
the proletariat so as, through cultur-
al revolutions, to win the ultimate
goal, communism. This is why the
proletariat must lead in everything
and in an all-around way.
The revolutionary army is of a
new type, an army for carrying out
the political tasks set by the party in
accordance with the interests of the
proletariat and people. This takes
the concrete form of three tasks: to
wage war, to produce so as not to be-
come a parasitic burden, and to
mobilise the masses. An army that is
built politically based on proletarian ideology, on Marxism-LeninismMaoism (today) and the general po-
litical line and military line established by the party. An army that
bases itself on people, not weapons;
an army that has come forth from
the masses and is always linked to
them and serves them wholeheartedly, allowing it to move among them
like a fish in water. Without a people's army the people have nothing,
Chairman Mao says, while he also
teaches the necessity that the party
commands absolute leadership over
the army and sets forth the great
principle: the party comlnands the
gun and we will never allow the gun
to control the party. Beyond
thoroughly establishing the principles and norms for building the
gles, military actions and wars
waged by the proletariat as well as
the people's long experience in wag-
ing armed struggle, especially the
war waged by the Chinese peasants.
army of a new type, the Chairman It is because of Chairman Mao that
also warned that the army could be the class has a military theory;
used to restore capitalism if leader- however, there is much confusion
ship is usurped through a counter- and misunderstanding around this
revolutionary coup, and he deve- issue. These problems arise from
loped Lenin's thesis on the people's how the people's war in China itself
militia, advancing further than ever is understood. It is often viewed,
before in the broad arming of the narrowly and contemptuously, as a
people, opening the way and point- mere guerrilla war; this already
ing the direction towards the sea of denotes a lack of understanding of
armed masses which will lead us to the fact that with Chairman Mao
the ultimate emancipation of the guerrilla warfare acquires a strategmasses and the proletariat.
ic character. This view also does not
Chairman Mao Tsetung was the understand how guerrilla warfare,
first to develop a complete theory of on the basis of its essential fluidity,
the united front and establish its can develop mobility, mobile
principles. A united front based on warfare, positional warfare; it can
and
unfold plans for major strategic
er to wage the struggle between revo-
more than 20 years with a huge
lution and counter- revolution, prin-
population and a huge mobilisation
the worker-peasant alliance
guaranteeing the proletariat's he- offensives and it can seize small,
gemony in the revolution; a united medium and large cities with milfront of classes led by the proletari- lions of inhabitants, combining atat, represented by its party, in sum tacks from outside with insurreca united front under the leadership tions from within. Thus, in
of the Communist Party; a united conclusion, the four stages of the
front for people's war, for the revo- Chinese revolution, in particular
lution, for the seizure of power in from the peasant war to the people's
the service of the proletariat and the war of liberation, with the war
masses. Concretely, therefore, the against Japan taking place between
united front is the unity of the these two periods, demonstrate the
revolutionary forces against diverse aspects and complexity of
counter-revolutionary forces in ord- the revolutionary war waged for
cipally through people's war, arms and participation of the masses; the
in hand. Obviously the united front war involved examples of many
is not the same at every stage of the different experiences; and the esrevolution, and moreover, it has its sence of this war has been extraorspecific characteristics depending on dinarily studied and its principles,
the different periods of each stage; laws, strategy, tactics, norms, etc.,
likewise the united front in a specif- have been masterfully established. It
ic revolution is not the same as on a is in that incredible crucible and on
world scale, though both follow the the basis laid by Marxism-Leninism
same general laws. Furthermore, it that Chairman Mao was able to esis important to emphasise the rela' tablish the military theory of the
tionship between the front and the proletariat, people's war.
We must keep in mind that subsestate which Chairman Mao established during the war against Japan quently the Chairman himself, with
when he explained that the united full knowledge of the existence of
front was a form of joint dictator- atomic bombs and missiles and the
ship. This is a question we who face ability to use them, defended and dedemocratic revolution must study. veloped people's war to wage it un4. People's waris the militd"ry the- der new conditions involving nuclear
ory of the international proletariat; weapons and against powers and supeople's war sums up for the first perpo\ryers; in sum, people's war is
time, in a systematic and all- the weapon of the proletariat and
encompassing way, the theoretical people in confronting nuclear war.
(Continued to p. 76).
and practical experience of the strug-
76
PCP Documents
(Continued from p. 62).
the proletariat to change the mental
outlook of the whole of society. At
present, our objective is to struggle
A key and decisive question in understanding the universality of people's war is understanding its univer-
in
sal validity and
consequently
applicability, taking into account the
different types of revolutions and
the specific conditions of each revo-
lution. To understand this key question it is helpful to keep in mind the
fact that since the Petrograd insurrection this model has not been
repeated, and to consider the antifascist resistance and guerrilla wars
in Europe during World War II, as
well as the armed struggles being
waged in Europe today, and to see
that in the end, the October Revolution was not only an insurrection but
a
revolutionary war that lasted
several years. Consequently, in the
imperialist countries the revolution
can only be conceived of as revolutionary war and today this can only
mean people's war.
Finally, today more than ever, we
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against and overthrow those persons
authority who are taking the
capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic 'authorities' and the ideology
of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform
education, literature and art and all
other parts of the superstructure not
in correspondence with the socialist
economic base, so as to facilitate the
consolidation and development of
the socialist system."
It was under these conditions that
the most earthshaking political event
and the largest mass mobilisation the
Earth has ever seen took place. This
is how Chairman Mao defined its
objectives: "The current Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution is
absolutely necessary and most timely for consolidating the dictatorship
of the proletariat, preventing
communists and revolutionaries, the
capitalist restoration and building
socialism."
We would further emphasise two
proletariat and the people, need to
other questions:
be steeled in the
marked a milestone in the develop-
point: "yes, we are
advocates of the omnipotence of
revolutionary war; that is good, not
bad, it is Marxist." This means we
have to be supporters of the invincibility of people's war.
5. The historical significance of
l) the GPCR
years," and within that context, the
period now beginning of the struggle against Yankee imperialism and
Soviet social-imperialism, those
paper tigers fighting for world hegemony and threatening the world
with nuclear war, to which we must
respond first by condemning such a
war and then getting ready to oppose
it with people's war and make revolution. Furthermore, based on the
historic importance of the oppressed
nations and even more their future
perspectives, as well as the economic and political relations developing
dueto the decomposition of imperialism, the Chairman set forth his
theory that "three worlds are taking
shape." All of this points to the need
to develop the strategy and tactics of
the world revolution. Unfortunately little or almost nothing is known
of the writings and statements by
Chairman Mao regarding these most
important questions; however, what
little we do know shows the tremendous prospects he foresaw, and
these are major guiding principles
which we should follow to understand and serve the world proletarian revolution.
ment of the dictatorship of the
7. Superstructure, Ideology, Culproletariat towards consolidating ture, Education. These and other
the proletariat's political power, related problems have been sharply
concretised in the Revolutionary and profoundly studied and resolved
by the Chairman; therefore this is
the Great Proletarion Cultural
Committees; and 2) the restoration
of capitalism in China following the
1976 counter- revolutionary coup
Revolution is that it is the most far-
does
reaching
Chairman Mao's de-
rather formed part of the contention
velopments of Marxism-Leninism,
the solution to the great pending
problem of continuing the revolu-
between restoration and counterrestoration, and in fact, it points to
In conclusion, the content ofthese
basic questions clearly demonstrates
to anyone who cares to see and understand that we have a third, new
and higher stage of Marxism: Maoism; and that to be a Marxist today
of
tion under the dictatorship of the
proletariat. It "constitutes a broader
and deeper new stage in the develop-
ment of the socialist revolution in
our country." What was the situation? As the Decision of the CPC
concerning the GPCR put it:
"Although the bourgeoisie has been
overthrown, it is still trying to use
the old ideas, culture, customs and
habits of the exploiting classes to
corrupt the masses, capture their
minds and endeavour to stage a
comeback. The proletariat must do
the exact opposite: it must deal merciless blows and meet head-on every
challenge of the bourgeoisie in the
ideological field and use the new
ideas, culture, customs and habits of
not negate the GPCR but
the crucial historic importance of the
GPCR in humanity's inexorable
march towards communism.
6. World revolution. Chairman
Mao emphasises the importance of
the world revolution understood as
a single whole. His basic starting
points are that revolution is the main
trend while imperialism is increasingly falling apart every day, that the
role of the masses grows more immense year after year and that they
are making and will make their irresistible transforming force felt,
and the great truth that he reiterated: either all of us will march on to
communism or none of us will. Wi-
thin this specific perspective of the
era of imperialism is the great histor100
ic moment of the "next 50 to
another basic question that demands
attention.
means to be Marxist-LeninistMaoist and principally Maoist.
The exposition of the content
leads us to two questions.
What is the essence of Maoism?
The essential thing in Mooism is po-
litical power. Political power for the
proletariat, power for the dictatorship ofthe proletariat, power based
on an armed force led by the Communist Party. More explicitly: l) political power under the leadership of
the proletariat in the democratic
revolution; 2) political power for the
dictatorship ofthe proletariat in the
socialist and cultural revolutions; 3)
political power based on an armed
force led by the Communist Party,
77
seized and defended through peo-
ple's war.
What is Maoism? Maoism is the
raising of Marxism-Leninism to a
new third stage in the proletariat's
struggle to lead the democratic revo-
lution, the development and building of socialism and continuing the
revolution under the dictatorship of
the proletariat through proletarian
cultural revolution, at a time when
imperialism is increasingly falling
apart and revolution has become the
main trend in history, in the midst of
the greatest and most complex struggles ever seen, along with the inex-
orable struggle against modern revisionism.
On the Struggle around Maoism.
Briefly, the struggle in China to establish Mao Tsetung Thought began
in 1935, at the Tsunyi meeting, when
Chairman Mao assumed the leadership of the Communist Party of China; in 1945 the 7th Congress agreed
that the CPC was guided
by
Marxism-Leninism and the ideas of
Mao Tsetung, though this concrete
formulation was suppressed by the
8th Congress where a rightist line
cluding his development of and march towards
Marxism, there are some who believe we are sti[ in the stage of
Marxism-Leninism and others who
only accept Mao Tsetung Thought
but in no way accept Maoism.
Obviously, the revisionists in Peru
who follow the dictates of their
respective overlord
Gorbachev,
Deng, AIia or Castro
have at- them
tacked Maoism; among
we
must condemn, unmask and fight
the callous revisionism of Del Pra-
do and his gang of the so-called
"Peruvian Communist Party"; the
spineless snakes of the so-called
"Communist Party of Peru, Red
Fatherland" who formerly
proclaimed themselves "great
Maoists" and then became lackeys
of Deng after having condemned
him in 1976 when he was knocked
down; as well as the anti-Maoism of
the so-called "United Left" teeming
with everything from all sorts of
revisionists and even anti- Marxists
to phony Marxists and opportunists
of all shades. To hold high Maoism
as a revealing mirror in front of the
held sway. The fth Congress of 1969
summed up the GPCR and stated
revisionists and to relentlessly struggle against them while working for
the development of the people's war
by
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung
and the victory of the continuing
democratic revolution is an obliga-
Thought; up to that point there was
tory and unavoidable task of
tegic nature.
that the CPC was guided
progress.
On an international level Maoism
began to become influential in the
1950s, but
was only with the
it
GPCR that
it
become widely
known, acquiring enormous prestige, and Chairman Mao became
recognised as the leader of the world
revolution and the founder of
stage
a
new
of Marxism-Leninism; thus,
many Communist Parties came to
adopt the denomination MarxismLeninism-Mao Tsetung Thought.
On a world level, Maoism openly
and sharply confronted modern
revisionism and exposed it deeply
a
stra-
even
and, above all, of the Communist
Party which unwaveringly upholds
the proletariat's class interests,
brings forth a group of leaders and
principally one who comes to
represent and lead it, a leader of
recognised authority and infl uence.
In our situation, because of historical necessity and for historical reasons, this has meant concretely
Chairman Gonzalo, leader of the
Party and of the revolution.
But, further, and this is the basis
of all leadership, revolutions bring
forth a thought that guides them, a
of the application of the
universal truth ofthe ideology ofthe
international proletariat to the conproduct
crete conditions of each revolution,
a guiding thought indispensable to
achieve victory and seize power, and
further, to continue the revolution
and always advance towards the
only truly great goal, communism.
This guiding thought, having made
a qualitative leap of crucial importance for the revolutionary process,
Maoism to the concrete conditions
of Peruvian reality, has developed it,
in
international proletariat's ideology:
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. With
the people's war we have come to
more profoundly understand what
Maoism, Principally Maoism!, and
to tirelessly fight to help make it the
commander and guide of the world
revolution, the only really red and
imperishable banner, the guarantee
of victory for the proletariat, oppressed nations and peoples of the
world in their inexorable combat
among those who recognise the
Chairman's great contributions, in-
Every revolution, in the course of
its development, due to the struggle
ofthe proletariat as the leading class
Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought!;
1981, Towards Maoism!; and in
1982, Maoism as a component part
and the highest development of the
Defend and Apply Marxism-
Chairman's great red banner: the
an revisionism. Moreover,
Thought
becomes identified with the name of
the person who forged it in theory
and in practice. In our situation this
phenomenon took specific form first
as guiding thought, then as the guiding thought of Chairman Gonzalo,
and finally as Gonzalo Thought; for
it is the Chairman who, creatively
Maoism means and have taken the
solemn pledge to Uphold, Defend
international proletariat's ideology.
Today Maoism faces the triple attack of Soviet, Chinese and Albani-
II. On Gonzalo
The Communist Party of Peru,
through the fraction led by Chairman Gonzalo which pushed forward
the reconstitution of the Party, took
up Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in
1966; in 1979, the slogan Hold High,
and thoroughly, and the same thing
occurred within the ranks of the
CPC itself, raising even higher the
third, new and highest stage of the
communism,
forever golden and shining.
and Apply Marxism-Leninism-
applying Marxism-Leninism-
thus providing the Party and the
revolution with an indispensable
weapon which is the guarantee of
victory.
Gonzalo Thought has been forged
through many years of intense, tenacious and unceasing struggle to hold
high, defend and apply MarxismLeninism-Maoism, to retake and develop Mariategui's path, to reconstitute the Party and, most important,
while serving the world revolution,
to initiate, continue and develop the
people's war
in Peru whose
sole
commander and guide in theory and
practice
is
Marxism-Leninism-
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Maoism, principally Maoism.
period, the so-called National
There is a fundamental need for
the Party to study Gorzalo Thought
for a more correct and appropriate
understanding of the general political line and especially of the military
line, with the purpose of deepening
particular points related to the Peruvian revolution, those specific and
inherent characteristics masterfully
pointed out by Chairman Gonzalo;
in this way we will serve the "great
Democratic Front, the APRA's action, Odria's government and the
struggle against his eight-year rule,
the struggle between Apristas and
communists; and especially, the development of bureaucrat capitalism
plan to develop bases areas," the advance ofthe people's war and the future seizure of political power na-
tween the comprador bourgeoisie
in the 1960s and first part ofthe '70s
and the sharp class struggle that accompanied that period, "Velasquis-
the Communist Party of Peru and
the revolution it leads.
This Guiding Thought, having
made a qualitative leap of crucial
importance for the Party and the
revolution, has become Gonzalo
Thought, thus marking a milestone
in the life of the Party.
III.
CONTENT
mo" and his so-called revolution,
the collusion and contention be-
a. Theory. How it comprehends
and applies the three component
and the bureaucrat bourgeoisie (fac- parts of Marxism-Leninismtions of the big bourgeoisie) sup- Maoism, principally Maoism; the
ported by opportunism and especial- importance it gives to Marxist phitionwide.
We must study Gonzalo Thought ly revisionism. 2) The class struggle losophy, the need to train ourselves
within the historical context from in the peasant movement. 3) The de- in it and especially its application of
which it arose so as to understand its velopment of the workers' move- the law of contradiction in the study
ideological basis. We must specify ment. 4) The movement among in- of all problems, always aiming to
its content, most fully expressed in tellectuals. 5) The armed struggles in define the principal aspect and the
the general political line and the mili- the country, especially those waged motion of things; in political econtary line that is at its centre. We must by MIR and the ELN in 1965 as well omy, the concern with exploitative
emphasise its fundamental point, as previously by Blanco, Vallejos relations and especially with
the question of political power, of and Heraud. 6) The question of the bureaucrat capitalism, with the
seizing power here in Peru, inex- Party: how a party founded on a perspective of developing the revoltricably linked to the seizure of pow- clear Marxist-Leninist basis degener- ution and the effect of the people's
er by the proletariat in the whole ated into a revisionist party, the need war on the base, as well as its attenworld. We must pay special atten- to retake and develop Mariategui's tion to the economic relations of
tion to strengthening it in the two- path while developing and recon- imperialism, assessing their political
line struggle.
stituting the Party, the Communist consequences; in scientific sociaIn sum, these fundamental ques- Party of Peru founded in 1928 by Iism, how it focuses on the people's
tions can be dealt with by applying Mariategui himself, and how, war and the concrete form that peothe following outline.
through reconstitution, a Marxist- ple's war takes in Peru, how the
Leninist-Maoist Party was built. question of power is always kept in
I. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Here the basic thing is how Gonza- mind, and particularly, its forging
lo Thought profoundly compre- and development as the new state.
International. Concerning events:
l) the development of World War II
and after; 2) the powerful national
liberation movement, and, within
that, the waging and victory of the
Chinese revolution; 3) the Cuban
revolution and its repercussions in
Latin America; 4) the great struggle
between Marxism and revisionism;
5) the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution. But the key is to see how
in this great class str rggle on a world
scale, Gonzalo Thought holds that
third stage ofproletarian ideology
has developed, first as MarxismLeninism, Mao Tsetung Thought;
a
then
Marxism-Leninism-Mao
hends Peruvian society, centred on
firmly maintains the course the ProOne cannot conceive of Gonzalo
Thought without
Marxism-
c. We should emphasise Gonzalo
Thought's remarkable fulfillment
of the requirements outlined by
is
understanding the historical
process of development of proletar-
in
Leninism-Maoism, principally Mao-
Marxism- Leninism-Maoism
Marxism.
National. 1) Peruvian society and
the political struggle in the post-war
universal truth to the concrete conditions of the Peruvian revolution.
It is because of this that Gonzalo
Thought is principal specifically for
ism, as today's expression of
Chairman Mao: theoretical solidity,
understanding of history and good
practical handling of policy.
ian ideology, ofits three stages con-
tained
reaching Marxism-
gramme has set.
Leninism-Maoism, for it is the creative application of the latter to our
conditions. The key to this question
Tsetung Thought; and later as Maoism, recognising its universal valid-
ity; thus
b. On content. The most substan-
tive and most developed part of
capitalism, and sees the necessity of Gonzalo Thought is found in the
reconstituting the Party and of seiz- Party's general political line; this
ing political power and defending it Thought, then, is the direct basis for
the line and its five components,
through people's war.
with the most essential being how it
understands the Programme and
II. IDEOLOGICAL BASIS
the crucial question of bureaucrat
Marxism-Leninism-
Maoism with Maoism principal; and
most essential is its application of
as
IV. WHAT IS ESSENTIAL
The essential thing in Gonzalo
Thought is the question of political
power, concretely, the seizure ofpolitical power in Peru, thoroughly
and completely throughout the
country,
as a
consistent application
of the universal truth of MarxismLeninism-Maoism to our revolu-
tion. But since
it is communist
thought, it understands the seizure
of power in Peru as part of the seizure of power for the proletariat on
a world scale, and that the seizure
of
power in the country, today taking
concrete form in the People's Committees, base areas and the New
Democratic People's Republic in
formation with the objective of establishing the People's Republic of
Peru, serves to establish the dictatorship of the proletariat in our coun-
try, for without it we cannot advance to communism. All of this is
for the purpose of firmly and reso-
lutely serving the establishment of
people's republics and principally
the dictatorship of the proletariat
throughout the world, under the
leadership of Communist Parties,
with revolutionary armies of a new
type, through people's war and the
unfolding of cultural revolutions until communism shines all over the
Earth.
V. FORGED IN THE TWOLINE STRUGGLE
Gonzalo Thought has been forged
in persistent, firm and wise two-line
struggle, defending the proletarian
line and defeating opposing lines.
Among the most important strug-
gles we should highlight those
against modern revisionism, especially as represented by Del Prado
and his henchmen; against right liquidationism led by Paredes and his
gang; against left liquidationism led
by Sergio and his so-called "Bolshe-
viks"; and against the rightopportunist line that opposed the
launching of the armed struggle.
Without struggle Gonzalo Thought
would not have been able to de-
velop; and his remarkable handling
of the twoJine struggle in the Party
is a fundamental question that we
should study and learn from.
To study and especially to apply
Gonzalo Thought is crucial to being
able to better serve the Party, the development of people's war and the
world proletarian revolution, just as
learning from Chairman Gonzalo is
crucial to serving the masses wholeheartedly.
f,